BENGZON V.

DRILON

FACTS: The veto of the President had the effect of reversing the Supreme Court’s decision. In fact, it was
repealing a law. That cannot be done by the item veto power of the President. Remember this case? The
automatic increase in the pension of the justices which the automatic increase was removed by law. But
after that issue was decided by court, that law was found to be ineffectual because it was not published.
Therefore, the automatic increase was restored. Nevertheless, the President vetoed the provisions that
implemented the automatic increase.

RULING: The Court said that by doing that, you 1) reverse our decision; and 2) you repealed an existing
law which allows for automatic increases. That cannot be done by the President by the exercise of his veto
powers.